3 Suspended in Oregon Sexual Assault Case

By JOSHUA HUNT

May 9, 2014

EUGENE, Ore. — Three University of Oregon basketball players accused of sexually assaulting a fellow student two months ago have been suspended and will not return to the team, the university president Michael R. Gottfredson said at a news conference Friday.

The players — Brandon Austin, Damyean Dotson and Dominic Artis — were accused of sexually assaulting another student three times in the hours after they had met at a house party on March 8, according to a police report.

The university first learned of the episode on March 9 but allowed Dotson and Artis to continue playing for the Ducks. Each appeared in Oregon’s two games in the N.C.A.A. tournament.

Austin was still awaiting his team debut after transferring from Providence, where he and a teammate had been suspended after facing a sexual assault accusation from a student there.

“The three student athletes were suspended,” Gottfredson said. “They will not be playing basketball at Oregon again.”

The university did not act sooner because the Eugene police asked officials to delay administrative reviews until after a criminal investigation was complete, Gottfredson and a police spokeswoman, Melinda McLaughlin, said.

However, the police investigation did not begin until March 14, five days after the university learned of the incident. A university spokesman said he could not explain why the university did not begin its own investigation in the interim, and McLaughlin would not explain why the university was asked to delay it.

A report a White House task force released in April on protecting students from sexual assault said, “A criminal investigation does not relieve a school of its independent obligation to conduct its own investigation — nor may a school wait for a criminal case to conclude to proceed.”

Universities must respond to sexual assault complaints under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The university’s Title IX officer did not respond to repeated requests for comment.